Venus Williams Out of Tennis Indefinitely with Mystery Illness

AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. -- Venus Williams says she will be sidelined indefinitely from tennis but has not said why.

Williams withdrew from the Bausch and Lomb Championships at Amelia Island, and reportedly made a trip to downtown Jacksonville to see a doctor.

"I've just been having some issues that I need to resolve, so I'm working on that at the moment and I'm hoping to be back playing as soon as possible," Williams said. "I'm not going to get any further into it, but of course I love the sport."

Last week Williams lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

Williams says she still wants to attempt to play the French Open in late May.

"Of course I want to be there (for the French)," Williams said. "I don't want to be at home watching on TV. Watching this week will be enough on TV, so hopefully not too many more weeks."

Although she withdrew from the event, Williams showed up in Amelia Island to perform perfunctory media duties and sign autographs.